IDF Officer Incarcerated For Breaking Rioter’s Camera

A deputy company commander in a paratroopers brigade sentenced to 22 days in a military prison on Thursday with breaking the cameras of an Italian left-wing activist in Chevron.

According to Army Radio, troops at a Chevron riot detained the activist after he prevented them from dispersing the disturbances and brought him to their base, where the officer broke his cameras.

The jail sentence is relatively rare, as similar incidents commonly end with a disciplinary hearing. The decision to send the officer to prison was harshly criticized by MK Bezalel Smotrich, who alleged that the commander’s incarceration was part of a heavy-handed policy that hobbled IDF soldiers from fighting terrorism.